Cryptozoology

In Search of Thylacine Replicas

Matthew Bille, author of Shadows of Existence and other books, approached me with a question over the weekend, which I have seriously pondered often: Where are the Thylacine replicas? Does no one produce affordable, hard-plastic, scale-model, museum-quality representations of the Thylacine (a.k.a. Tasmanian Tiger)? Does not Thylacinus cynocephalus, the wolf-headed pouched dog, one of the celebrities of extinct animals thought to be a living cryptid, deserve a replica? Such replicas are helpful in lectures, exhibitions, and educational demonstrations about well-known and often-mentioned current or recent cryptid expeditions and research. Where are the Thylacine models? Surely, it would be as popular [...]

Look What They Did At Loch Ness

The legend of the Loch and its mysterious inhabitant has captured the imagination of millions of people worldwide for generations. Now the ancient myth is brought to life to celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep on 30th June 2008. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ “Save The Museum”: Easy-to-use donation buttons are now available here or merely by clicking the blank button below. Thanks everyone!

Hawks, Not Parrots, On The Attack

No doubt upset by the recent DNA study saying that their former cousins the falcons are more closely related to parrots than to them, a pair of red-tailed hawks attacked a Cape Cod, Massachusetts, woman on Monday, June 30, 2008. First it was an alligator at nearby Barnstable, on Cape Cod, and now attacking hawks. Cape Cod is turning into a hot bed of weird animal news this summer. Perhaps a Sea Serpent sighting will occur any day now? Seriously, I would ask Cape Cod-located cryptozoologists-in-training to keep an eagle eye (no pun intended) out for more unusual animal stories [...]

New Crayfish Species Discovery

In 2005, a new species of crayfish, Cambarus (Tubericambarus) polychromatus (the painted-hand mudbug) was described by Roger Thoma, Raymond Jezerinac and Thomas Simon in volume 118 issue 2 of the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Specifically, the cited journal article is: Thoma R.F., Jezerinac, R.F., and Simon, T. P. 2005. “Cambarus (Tubericambarus) polychromatus (Decapoda: Cambaridae), a new species of crayfish from the United States. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 118(2):326-336. Now, this new species has been identified from southern Illinois, according to the US Forest Service’s Mike Welker on June 30, 2008: The Cambarus polychromatus, commonly [...]

Wild Bears vs Humans

As some kind of joke, an internet wag called Evil Melon has posted that, “Some cryptozoologist is making bizarre claims that the mythical creature known as a ‘bear’ has attacked a girl riding in a 24 hour bike race….Bears are loveable trained creatures who do not live in the wild, do not steal pickernick baskets and do not maul human beings. This is a claim that must be debunked. The wild bear does not exist.” Not funny. Not happening. More ridicule for cryptozoologists, even for those of us who happen to have an incredible sense of humor. In a minute, [...]